Obviously the Queensland Government (and possibly other state and territory governments) don't do any checks on their external aviation service providers, if they do the auditing is absolutely hopeless and the third-party aviation consultants are just bagging the cash and not providing the desired outcomes.
Blame CASA? Not in this case, the client (QLD government) should have been smart enough to ensure that the service provider was appropriately certified to conduct the flights. Not hard, just look for the AOC certificate on the wall, if it isn't visible ask to sight it - it's a no brainer.
I'm sure this **** has been going on for years, particularly out in the bush.